My daughter downloaded a web browser for our Wii this week. Now we can watch Youtube videos on our TV and I did not have to pay anything. Mousing around is quite easy since you just use the Wii controllers which allow you to point and click on the screen. They also added some easy ways to scroll by holding down the trigger button. Typing, however, is somewhat harder since you have to point at a virtual keyboard on the screen.

My daughter said the browser supported a keyboard and she asked me where you hook it up. Since the Wii controllers are based on Bluetooth, I assumed a Bluetooth keyboard would work, but I was wrong. It seems that it only supports USB keyboards. That is a shame since it would be handy to sit on your couch and browse the internet without a cord ready to trip someone.

I think it is a real problem that many Bluetooth devices do not support all of the Bluetooth functionality where it makes sense. I am starting to think that some things should be made mandatory. For example, if your Bluetooth device can support text input, then it should support a Bluetooth keyboard. If your Bluetooth device has graphical output, it should support a Bluetooth printer. Some people may think those restrictions are too difficult, but think of how much nicer it would be if you knew that your keyboard or printer worked with almost everything in your house where it was applicable.

Up until now the main concern with Bluetooth was that two devices, from different manufacturers, were compatible if they supported the same profile. We have pretty much done that. Now it seems like we need another push; to say that a device is truly Bluetooth enabled, it must support as many profiles as possible instead of just doing the minimum.